gossamer

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She had on what is called a gossamer, which covered her from neck to toe, and on her head a hat wrapped all about with a blue veil So that she might have worn any dress under that gossamer Yes, sir And any hat under that veil Any one that was large enough, sir Very good.

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Definitions (16)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A soft sheer gauzy fabric.
  2. noun Something delicate, light, or flimsy.
  3. noun A fine film of cobwebs often seen floating in the air or caught on bushes or grass.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • I mean to find out all that is known about gossamer, and satisfy myself of the truth of the tradition that the threads are spun by tiny spiders, though surely with very little hope of snaring flies I spent six months making the tour which Ascher planned for me. —  Gossamer 1915
  • It is noted that the yarns for the gossamer-like Dacca muslins of India were so fine that one pound of cotton was spun into a thread 253 miles long. —  Textiles For Commercial, Industrial, and Domestic Arts Schools; Also Adapted to Those Engaged in Wholesale and Retail Dry Goods, Wool, Cotton, and Dressmaker's Trades
  • The clapping was not the plaudits of high-bred hands, whose sound is like the fluttering of small wings, just enough to stir gossamer--but not the heart. —  Handy Andy, Volume One A Tale of Irish Life, in Two Volumes
  • She had on what is called a gossamer, which covered her from neck to toe, and on her head a hat wrapped all about with a blue veil So that she might have worn any dress under that gossamer Yes, sir And any hat under that veil Any one that was large enough, sir Very good. —  That Affair Next Door
  • A queer couple, sir, that puzzled me some, though I should not have thought of them twice if I had not found next day Well The gentleman's linen duster and the neat brown gossamer which the lady had worn, lying folded under the two back cushions of my hack; a present for which I was very much obliged to them, but which I was not long allowed to enjoy, for yesterday the police Well, well, no matter about that. —  That Affair Next Door
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

filmy ·  gauzy ·  silken ·  iridescent ·  fleecy ·  multicolored ·  woolen ·  flimsy ·  rose-colored ·  silvery ·  nylon ·  chiffon
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English gossomer : gos, goose; see goose + somer, summer (probably from the abundance of gossamer during early autumn when geese are in season); see summer1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also written gossomer, gossamere, gossamear, gossymear, gossamour, gossamore, gossummer; from Middle English gossomer, gossummer, earliest form gosesomer (not in Anglo-Saxon), literally ‘goose-summer,’ from Middle English gos, goose, + somer, summer (cf. equivalent English dial. summer-goose, also summer-gauze, accommodation to gauze); a name of popular origin, alluding to the downy appearance of the film, and to the time of its appearance. Cf. the equivalent D. zomerdraden, plural, = Swedish sommartråd, ‘summer-thread’; German sommerfäden, plural, ‘summer-threads.’ The Scots gosummer, the latter end of summer, is apparently an ingenious adaptation of gossamer, gossummer, to denote the time when summer goes; cf. go-harvest.
 

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/ˈgɑsəmər/
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